1991

Winner of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 during the summer, Guy Forget was playing the tennis of his life in a season in which he had won six titles on the circuit. A month after his unforgettable Davis Cup triumph over the USA in Lyon, he dominated Pete Sampras once again after Cincinnati. Trailing two sets to one, the Frenchman overcame the American (7-6 (9), 4-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4) to become the first French player to win the Rolex Paris Masters.

1992

Boris Becker has only ever lost once at Bercy (by withdrawal in 1990). And although Forget had beaten the German in their last meeting in Cincinnati the previous year, the defending champion would suffer the German’s wrath in the final (7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3) in 2h37.

2001

Semi-finalist at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2001, Sébastien Grosjean, then ranked 19th in the world, won the greatest title of his career by defeating Tommy Haas in the last four (7-5, 6-4), then Evgueni Kafelnikov in the final (7-6 (3), 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4), to secure a place at the Masters.

2008

Australian Open finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsongaranked 14th in the world, started the tournament with a swollen knee. This didn’t prevent him from beating four top 12 players in quick succession in his last four matches (Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, James Blake and David Nalbandian). He became the third Frenchman to win at the POPB and clinched his place in the Masters in extremis.

2009

In a fiery atmosphere, 23-year-old Gael Monfils played in his first Masters 1000 final, but lost out to Novak Djokovic 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3). Trailing 6-2 3-0, the Parisian broke twice to level at one set apiece… but gave in after 2 hours 43 minutes of play.

2010

Another failure for “la Monf”, who this time lost heavily to Sweden’s Robin Söderling (6-1, 7-6 (7/1)) in the final. The sixth title for the world number 5 and his first in a Masters 1000. Söderling, 26, became the first Swede to win at Bercy since Thomas Enqvist in 1996.

2011

Switzerland’s Roger Federer finally broke the record at Bercy. The Swiss dominated 6 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6-1 7-6(7/3)). The Swiss became only the second player in history, after Andre Agassi, to win both the French Open and Bercy.